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The case between Standa Port Authorities and Hurtigruten is not over yet: http://www.smp.no/nyheter/article10449511.ece They wants to add to their legal costs, or chase Hurtigruten away from Geiranger, obviously. Are anybody surprised??

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Do you sense, Jan-Olav, that older ships in the fleet will be sold off as well and the protection Lofoten enjoys will be gone?
Norway is not the only country selling out to overseas- Australia flogs off land, commodities and possibly anything else it can think of. To Asia.

"The message from British TRD Capital is clear: Look to the north. They bought 90 percent of Hurtigruten for around three billion. They want higher activity in the polar regions, in addition to the Norwegian coast.

From before Hurtigruten is heavily involved in tourism on Svalbard.
Already in the 1800s they had one ship north and built hotels there. Now they own the tour operator Spitsbergen Travel, including two hotels and is a shareholder in a third. Their expedition ship "Fram" brings tourists to a number of places in the archipelago, and this summer is veteran "Nordstjernen" chartered for sailings on Svalbard.

The company has started the thought process about one billion investment in a new explorer ship.

- The interest in our offerings in the Arctic and Antarctica has increased. Here we earn money coming the rest of the operation to good, says CEO Daniel Skjeldam. He is this week in London in meetings with the new owners, and dedication desire is great, too eastwards.

Svalbard is way short of Frans Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, part of the Russian Arctic that has interesting history, unusual nature and has until now been almost closed.

- Russian authorities are interested and we prepare expedition cruises to these places, and the White Sea, said Skjeldam.

The concept is to have academic lectures on board about the local culture, nature and history. So passengers are put ashore with small boats, and get to experience places that are otherwise hard to reach.

In Antarctica "Fram" has great success among other things calls for the former Norwegian whaling base on Deception Island, which is inside the crater of an active volcano.

Svalbard has guided tours of Magdelenefjorden, where large glaciers calve into the icy blue water. One observes walrus at Moffen close, but legally hold and maybe get one glimpse of polar bears in Kongsfjorden.

- Tourists who choose Hurtigruten, see, experience and learn. To increase knowledge is an important goal for many, says Daniel Skjeldam. In winter they have had assistance through Hammerfest in dark time, which has given exuberant good feedback.

- What about protecting the environment in the vulnerable Arctic?

- The more people understand, the more one takes care of the environment. We follow international and local regulations for shipping and tourism. Our guests have for many years participated in litter picking along beaches in Svalbard and trained in climate, conservation and wildlife in polar regions, says Skjeldam.

He refers to the Hurtigruten participating in cruise Association AECO, which has made clear guidelines for "use" of Svalbard. Same model is now being used in Greenland, in northern Canada and in the Russian Arctic." (Google Translate)

Regards; Sigve.
---
IF I WIN IN LOTTO, I COULD GO EVERYWHERE. WITH FRAM....

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Oh, such a "beauty". Do you have any reason for this guess?
My guess is Nordstjernen also, she will have no charters during winter. And it is a nice repeating story... don't care about my silly speech from yesterday, when we decided to replace her...

The reason for "my guess" is a rumor I heard, that this was the ship they wanted.
When looking at the ship and thinking about it, I thought that it could be true as the ship is rather new (2014), is a passenger ship looking like a hurtigrute (in a way), and has port ro-ro capabilities (at the stern). All this mean they could have a replacement that also take cars.
Other than that..., it could be any ship (and Nordstjernen) for all I know :-)

"IF GOD COULD MAKE ANGELS...., WHY IN HELL MAKE MAN?"

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The reason for "my guess" is a rumor I heard, that this was the ship they wanted.
When looking at the ship and thinking about it, I thought that it could be true as the ship is rather new (2014), is a passenger ship looking like a hurtigrute (in a way), and has port ro-ro capabilities (at the stern). All this mean they could have a replacement that also take cars.
Other than that..., it could be any ship (and Nordstjernen) for all I know :-)

She appear to have a side port for pallet handling as well:

As well as on Stbd. side:

But what is the standard of accommodation? 750 Pax on a Ro/Rax of 93 m. LOA doesn't sound like there are much space per pax.
Then again, they may not need that many cabins during the winter season?

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Ferry Atlântida at the Navy Shipyards of the Arsenal do Alfeite. Built at Viana do Castelo for the Azores interislands routes, it was refused by the company that ordered her and it has since been put for sale.

Now owned by the Gov. of Venezuela, but still at the building yard. Has this ferry ever actually been trading??

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Not me. If I went to Antarctica again, which is not likely, I would go with Aurora Expeditions and the little ship Polar Pioneer (ex-Akademic Shulyakin, USSR) Very intimate and comfortable ship, which does not need an icebreaker to go where she needs to go.

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This article, stressing the different emphasis and styles of cruising that Midnatsol and Fram will offer, accurately reports what I heard onboard from Frams expedition team when the news broke. They are enthusiastic about the various opportunities it presents.

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